Sermon for Pentecost 7, July 7, 2024
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ
Jesus our Lord. Amen.
2 Timothy 2:1-13 You then, my son, be strong in the grace
that is in Christ Jesus. 2Entrust the things you heard from me, in the presence of
many witnesses, to faithful men who will also be able to teach others. 3Share hardships as a good
soldier of Christ Jesus. 4No
one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the affairs of everyday life. If he does, he will not please the one who
enlisted him. 5Also, if
someone competes as an athlete, he does not receive a crown unless he competes
according to the rules. 6The
hardworking farmer should receive a share of the crops first. 7Think about what I am saying,
because the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 8Remember
Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, a descendant of David, in accordance with my
gospel, 9for which I am suffering, even to the point of being
chained like a criminal. But the word of
God is not chained. 10For
this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they also
may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, along with eternal
glory. 11This saying is
trustworthy: Indeed, if we have died with him, we will
also live with him; 12If we endure, we will also reign with him; If
we deny him, he will also deny us; 13If we are faithless, he remains
faithful, because he cannot deny himself.
(EHV)
Stay
strong in the grace of our faithful Savior.
Dear friends in Christ,
In this
letter, St. Paul is giving farewell instructions and encouragement to his
protégé and fellow pastor, Timothy. In
our text, there is much to guide future pastors as they take up their calls,
yet it is also good encouragement and instruction for all believers because of
the call of our Savior, “Who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his
own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father.” (Revelation
1:5-6)
By making us members of His kingdom, Jesus puts
us in position to serve His Father in heaven here on earth, and as priests in
His kingdom, the Lord invites, encourages, and even commands us to pray, while
also assuring us that God hears and answers our prayers for Jesus sake. Therefore, we can confidently work in the
world, knowing that God will bless our efforts, both to help our fellow man,
but even more so, to spread the Good News of forgiveness and salvation through
faith in Christ Jesus. Thus, we are
urged to Stay strong in the grace of our faithful Savior.
Paul had chosen Timothy to accompany him on his
second missionary journey, and in that capacity, Timothy had grown in his faith
and knowledge of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.
Having been taught the Scriptures from infancy by his mother and
grandmother, Timothy was well-versed in the Old Testament scriptures. Upon hearing the Good News of what Jesus had
done for us all, Timothy was further trained by Paul for the work of the ministry,
but when Paul wrote, “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus,” we too are reminded of what we have in Christ Jesus.
The question then might be “How do we remain
strong in this grace?” Some might view
this as if training for a strongman competition. The idea would be to keep studying the Word
of our God, to immerse ourselves in it until we could live more holy lives than
others and out debate all comers. Still,
we don’t win people to faith by overpowering them. Rather, remaining strong in Christ Jesus is
to keep our eyes and thoughts focused on what Christ has done for us—how He
lived for us, died for us, and rose again to certify for us that God will also
raise us from the dead.
Certainly, being strong in Jesus means doing
everything in our power to learn more about Jesus. Likewise, it means trusting His word
completely. Paul wrote, “Entrust the
things you heard from me, in the presence of many witnesses, to faithful men
who will also be able to teach others.”
It behooves us, therefore, to make sure that the people we trust to
teach us in Christ’s churches are faithfully teaching God’s Word. In order to do that, we all need to keep
diving into the Scriptures, building up our confidence in what God has spoken,
living by it, and doing as Jesus instructed His disciples, “Gather disciples
from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have
given you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) The
work of the Church doesn’t belong to just the pastors but to the whole body of believers.
Paul then shared examples from life. He wrote, “Share hardships as a good
soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving
as a soldier gets entangled in the affairs of everyday life. If he does, he will not please the one who
enlisted him.” No one dare expect
that life as a Christian will always be easy.
The devil and his followers will always be at war against Christians in
this sin-damaged world. There will be
hardships when following Jesus. We
should not delude ourselves into imagining that we shouldn’t have to deal with
trouble. On the contrary, Jesus both
warned and promised us, “In this world you are going to have trouble. But be courageous! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Taking Paul’s advice, we remember that while
we are in the world and living as travelers through this troubled place, our
focus remains on Christ in everything we do.
The Holy Spirit also teaches, through Paul, that
no one is able to cheat his way into heaven.
Many are the religions and teachers in the world who imagine that a
person can earn his way to heaven, but the law declares that only through
perfect holiness will anyone enter God’s mansions. So again, we turn to God’s holy, innocent
Son, Jesus, who took away our sins, paying the full penalty for the world on
that bloody cross. In our daily
contrition, we return to our baptisms by which the Lord washed us clean of
every guilt and raised us up to new life in Jesus. Now, dressed in Jesus’ perfect righteousness,
we run our race to the end and thereby enter the winner’s circle to receive the
crown of victory.
The Spirit had Paul write, “The hardworking
farmer should receive a share of the crops first. Think about what I am saying, because the
Lord will give you understanding in everything.” It is good and right that those who serve the
Lord of all things will be rewarded, not because they made the fields produce,
but because they served faithfully. As
the seed is planted, God makes it grow according to His good will and plan. The glory belongs to God alone. At the same time, the Lord gives generous,
eternal reward to those who serve Him in His kingdom. Thus, the more we walk in harmony with the
Lord, and the more diligently we study His Word, the more the Holy Spirit will
grant us wisdom and understanding.
Solomon teaches us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10) He also advised, “Trust in the Lord with
all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)
Now, we come to perhaps the most important part
of this text: “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, a descendant of
David, in accordance with my gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the
point of being chained like a criminal.
But the word of God is not chained.”
God’s purpose in allowing this world to continue is that He wants many
more people to learn of Jesus and be saved.
Our focus in worship, in evangelism, and in daily living must be on
Jesus who is the source of our salvation, the cure for our sin, and our hope
for life everlasting in heaven. We are
pointed to the prophecies Jesus fulfilled so that we would know that He truly
is the Anointed One God sent to win our rescue.
Paul reminds us of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead—the sure sign that
what the Bible promises is true.
To the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “Jews ask
for signs, Greeks desire wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified―which is offensive to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, but
to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and
the wisdom of God. We preach Christ
crucified, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness
of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:22-25) Paul was imprisoned in chains and fully
realized that his end was at hand because of opposition from unbelievers. The people of the world will always reject
Jesus—and His people. We tell them the
truth of the Gospel, anyway, “because it is the power of God for salvation
to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)
The Gospel is what drew us to Jesus and converted our dead hearts from
stone to flesh, so that we too would believe.
The same is true for all.
Throughout the history of the Christian Church,
it often grows more during times of persecution. When life is easy, people don’t seem to care
much about their need for a Savior. Yet,
when the world is persecuting believers, and they continue to make a faithful
testimony to the hope that is theirs, those troubled by their sins take notice,
and by the work of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel produces faith in some who once
rejected God’s grace out of hand. That
is when penitent sinners sing joyfully, “Chief of sinners, though I be, Jesus
shed His blood for me, died that I might live on high, lived that I might never
die. As the branch is to the vine, I am
His, and He is mine.” (ELH 429)
God’s apostle endured much hardship to share
the Gospel throughout the Gentile world.
He was hated and mocked, tortured, beaten, and finally killed for the
message of the Gospel. Paul was willing
to endure that because he trusted the Savior who had endured the same and so
much more, so that you and I and all who believe might receive forgiveness and
eternal life. These blessings come to us
only through hearing the Gospel of Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the
devil. Christ’s sacrifice has made us holy
and acceptable to the Father in heaven.
It is for this reason that Paul assures his
readers with this promise: “Indeed, if we have died with him, we will also
live with him; If we endure, we will also reign with him; If we deny him, he
will also deny us; If we are faithless, he remains faithful, because he cannot
deny himself.” Our God is always
faithful to His promises, because that is what He is, faithful, true, holy, and
just. God loves us even though we have
sinned against Him. God loved us so
much, He was willing to sacrifice His own beloved Son, so that we might be
reconciled to Him and receive a loving welcome into His heavenly home at whatever
time He chooses to call us there.
Dear friends, whatever the circumstances, give
glory to God and trust Him completely.
His Word will never be broken for God is ever faithful. Stay strong in the grace of our faithful
Savior. Amen.
To him who loves
us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood and made us a kingdom and
priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment